A few weeks ago, Catherine Aerie contacted me to see if I had any interest in reviewing her book. At the time I had a bit of a backlog of books that I had agreed to review for other writers and my local library (those reviews are coming…).

She was very understanding and told me her book was a love story that centered on the Korean War which piqued my interest even further. So I told her if she could wait a couple of weeks I’d be happy to give her book a review.

One of the reasons I’m posting her review on my site before some of the others that I’ve read in recent weeks is that I so thoroughly enjoyed her book. All of my reviews appear at Goodreads and Amazon as well but this is my site, so I post them when I have the time.

I should mention The Dance of the Spirits is not a book about combat, it is first and foremost a powerful love-story and the Korean War happens to be the backdrop. Aerie also weaves in a fair bit of politics and philosophy throughout her novel leaving the reader to decide where they stand. This is one of the hallmarks of a gifted writer and something I appreciated.

Author Catherine Aerie writes with tremendous passion and gripping emotion. Her characters will quickly find a lasting place in your heart. She ably moves back and forth in time setting the stage for each new drama that unfolds.

Her writing style was very much reminiscent of early Ayn Rand in her outstanding debut novel We the Living.

Both books show, with horrifying clarity, the evil perils of communism; Rand’s in Soviet Russia and Aerie’s in China and North Korea.

Treat yourself to this wonderful love story, you won’t be disappointed.

Sudan is a brutally honest and powerful novel. What Ninie Hammon has laid out in these pages is a must read but it is not for the faint of heart.

She skillfully highlights the horrors that are taking place on the African Continent and the Middle East. Meanwhile the United Nations, the media and the rest of the world continue to turn a blind eye while Christians and tribalists are murdered and enslaved.

Today, the Global Slavery Index estimates that nearly 30 million people live in slavery and yet you hear nothing from the world media about the cruelty that exists in today’s modern world. To put this number in context, the total estimated slaves brought to America was just over half a million according to Wikipedia.

Hopefully Ninie’s book will help people wake up the evil that still exists in the world. You can pick up her book at Amazon or by clicking her name above.

An enjoyable read that will probably resonate more with women than men.

As a man I found it hard to connect with her characters but enjoyed the historical aspect and the epoch in which the novel is set. I felt like she spent far too much time with the protagonist, Agnes and very little time on establishing the rest of her characters or the story. The ending was quite predictable and felt rushed compared to the slow pace of the rest of the book.

The Moonlight Palace is a period piece set in the 20’s so if you’re a fan of this era, there’s something for you in this book. You can purchase from Amazon or your favorite purveyor of books.

Spying in America is a brilliantly concise overview of our nation’s clandestine services. In one quick read Sulick has highlighted both our success and our failures as America has grown from an upstart nation to world superpower.

My lone criticism of his effort is that he, like many historians, takes multiple opportunities to target Senator McCarthy’s efforts to limit Soviet espionage in America, citing the Venona documents to support his claim. When, in fact, the Venona documents do just the opposite and give credence to most of Sen. McCarthy’s claims.

Putting that aside, Spying in America is perhaps the best synapsis I’ve read on America’s covert affairs and is very worthy of a read. You can order it from Amazon, Georgetown University or your book purveyor of choice.

In another day and age this site was dominated by politics. At one point during this epoch it was one of the top political blogs on the web, and as such, I received many threats of malicious behavior. Which goes to show that whatever one builds, someone else will be there to tear it down.

While it took some time, those that disagreed with my opinion succeeded in hacking and destroying my site. So like a phoenix rising from the ashes, I have an opportunity to reinvent my digital self.

To that end, I have many interests outside of the political arena and I’ve decided to focus my energy in those areas. The new site will be focused primarily on books, movies and any other topics of the day that grab my attention.

If you had a review posted on the old site, I will be publishing them again here over the next few days.